I would like to keep a permanent thread on ways that the members here give back.

What are some ways to give back? Do you donate or volunteer? One of the ways I give back is by running this forum.

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InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

I see giving and recieving as one and the same

I helped my wife through a long disease
She helped me find myself

I hold a listening group weekly that helps people find themselves - a place to speak about "issues" in a non judgmental atmosphere where only Love operates - very simple and very effective and with only one request - that it be done in the light of Love.

I will also give my time to anyone who wants a chat or to go deeper - that is regardless of what the world judges them as - I offer a place where innocence is a given fact and Love is the way of healing

I am hoping to leave my job and do more of the listening groups but that will happen as it should


Being honest I do this because it "lights me up" as well as the people who come along - so it is in many ways "Self interest"

That said I know that I could simply walk in peace and Love and just in that it would heal both myself and all about me

A smile can change the World

It is enjoined upon us to help out in the community on a daily basis. Doing housework and cooking for the old and infirm, giving food and other things to the poor, and helping people in any way we can.

Minerva

...It seems so much like blowing my own horn, and I am uncomfortable with that.

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Grassaf, Eolas

I read this post the day you posted it.....have ponderd it ever since...I had a teacher in life once shared that ...no one...does Anything to not gain something...perhaps you read the ? and idea's of things you enjoyed doing came to mind...then history of lessons of if you do things for the right reason and out of love and duty etc...you need not share that info ...boast about it...but what i see is you still did just that by posting at all...not only did you say I have my works i have done i could share...but choose not to....and for myself...that was like saying to those of us whom answered a question on a forum...you just wish to brag....and yes...this is ...my issue not yours...i dont see you having said or done anything for the cause of any other feeling any such way....i see your post as just as an expresssion of where you are ...but now just wish to share for the sake of sharing how things are interpruted.......for me answering the question was a way to share a little in the way I try to give back....i would have looked at boasting to tooting ones own horn...as...showing up here and reading this or that..then like the friend..whom ...no matter..what you have...they have it and then some...no matter where you have been...they have been there and few other places...and no matter how much you ...well you get the picture.......in the end of a day...i no longer feel selfish for knowing i have dones something to give back....and taking the credit for what i know i have contributed...if one waits for the other to say hey...great job...it may not come...and any human needs to know hey your all right.....we must learn to give ourselves what others are busy living there own life and often not in a place of realizing that a thanks or appriciation was looked for and when we can fill this need for our self...we are a huge step forward in life i think...and can avoid depression from not feeling worthy......anyway..my thoughts this am...whom i kidding...i already told you....i have thought off and on since you posted this about it....not as in dwell....but the thoughts over the days would come and go ...take care all....

I dont know just what this job of running this site would curtail...but i am really happy to have the site to come to...i really enjoy reading all the posts and the thoughts and such that get stirred up ....so a huge thanks to you...and i even think your question is great...because in sharing the answers who knows...it may just plant a seed of another thinking...hey i would not mind trying that....anyway...Thank You....

I don't like the idea of joining a group, nor do I think it is necessary to give back. If I see someone in need, I try to meet that need.

New neighbor? Welcome them, usually with store bought goodies (no time to bake)

Ill neighbor? Bring soup, or something to make thier lives easier

So on and so forth. If we all did little things to help each other out when we see these things, the world would run much smoother.

Donating money is always a way to do something, but I rarely have any extra, so that is usually not done.

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

My husband and I foster dogs. We have 4 of our own and in the last year we have rarely only had our 4 in the house.

People say, 4 dogs, are you crazy?! I say there is a difference between 4 ill trained, un-exercised dogs, and my 4 laid back, calm dogs. (And the oldest one will turn 4 in Nov. of the 4 +foster we have now, 3 are under 2 years of age...now that's crazy)

This past year (starting Jan 08) we technically had 3 dogs and a foster. Feb we adopted our failed foster Colbert.

April we took in his sister, Kenya, so that she would have a clean environment to convalesce in after surgery. She went back the the shelter in June.

July we took in Bindi Sue, we came in contact with her through a forum I am active in that is for Australian Cattle Dogs. She now has her forever home ( papers will be signed in the next week) in OH.

End of July brought us a neighborhood stray I named Barnaby. We live in a new development with big shiny brandy new houses, it is a general consensus amongst our neighbors that the locals drop off their unwanted pets and think we'll just take them in. No one claimed B and we couldn't keep a giant black lab pup, regardless that he was house broken. Off he went to the ASPCA.

Mid August we picked up our current foster, Dixie, she is from the same ACD rescue as Bindi and is heart worm positive. We are nearly half way through her treatment and she will be ready to go to a new home around Halloween.

I keep track of all our fosters through my blog which there is a link to in my signature. I started it a few days before we picked up Colbert in October of last year.

Any one want a dog?

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- Wisdom comes when you stop looking for it. -
"If God were alive today, he'd be an atheist" - Kurt Vonnegut

Please visit my foster dog blog: The Colbert Report.

we've been helping the homeless with our Outdoorsman Overnight Packages.

First in our area, then as time went on, in different states, and now even as far away as Ceylon. Everytime you see someone without somewhere to go or a place to stay, remember that it could be you after a fire, a hurricane, a flood, an earthquake...

We encourage everybody to take ownership of this program and add their special stamp on their packages. See The After Christmas Crowd Outdoorsman Package Project for information on how you too can bring light to those living on those dark, mean streets.

This is an article from our local newspaper ...the article was from last week.

Needy adults require coats, too
Posted by Denise Ford-Mitchell | The Saginaw News November 21, 2008 20:08PM
Residents donate hundreds of coats for children this time of year.

That's not the case for adults, a Saginaw minister says.

"Through my ministry, I was encountering a lot of adults who don't own a coat or had very flimsy stuff that doesn't help anything," explained the Rev. Kathy M. VanBuskirk, 54.

In 2005, she established Divine Light Interfaith Ministry, which is temporarily housed at VanBuskirk's Saginaw home.

Shortly thereafter, she conducted her first coat drive for adults in 2005. This year, the minister -- ordained through Light Haven Seminary's Universal Oneness United -- hopes to surpass the 50 coats she collected in the first two events.

"People don't normally think of adults needing coats. Unfortunately, more often than not parents will use what little money they have to buy coats for their children or just go without. And there are countless elderly people," VanBuskirk emphasized.

Previous donations went to women at Saginaw's Underground Railroad and the Bay Area Social Intervention Services (BASIS), which provides outpatient and residential treatment for people with substance abuse problems and HIV/AIDS.

The minister plans to distribute donations to the Underground Railroad, BASIS and senior citizens in Saginaw. Individuals may donate coats through Tuesday, Dec. 23, at the following sites:

• 9 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday at Healthy Handz, 215 E. Jefferson in Frankenmuth.
• 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday at Grains & Greens Inc., 3641 Bay in Saginaw Township.
• 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday at Dips Old Town Candy and Ice Cream Shop, 404 Court in Saginaw.
• 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Friday at White's Bar, 2609 State in Saginaw.

Donors also may contact VanBuskirk at 752-9227 or go to www.divinelightinter faithministry.com.


Denise Ford-Mitchell is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach her at 776-9668 or at church@thesaginawnews.com.

So far in the past week I have collected almost 100 coats!!

This is one way I am trying to help others.....I also have started a cleaning supply/toiletry pantry in my home....

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RevKathyV

http://www.myspace.com/divinelightinterfaith



www.divinelightinterfaithministry.com